Friday, 20 June 2008

Fat Freddy's Drop is pleased to announce an extensive European and UK tour for the worldwide release of their new album in November.

They hope the tour and album release will be welcome news for all those disappointed by the recent cancellation of their August tour to UK and Europe.

After working on the follow up to their breakthrough album Based On A True Story for the past two years, jamming live on stage and recording in the studio, Freddy's are now committed to releasing the as yet untitled album in 2008.

The three week long album release tour starts in Paris at the Zenith on 12 November and ends at The Roundhouse in London on 4 December. Check listings on FFD website for tiki tour details.

Now-Again Records follows up The Heliocentrics’ percussive excursions into the astral realms of psychedelia with an album of Afro-tinged funk music originating from the Southern Sahara and recorded in Germany.

Karl Hector has, to date, only appeared on one 7-inch, from 1996, as the leader of the Funk Pilots. For this album, he has teamed up with Jay Whitefield (producer and guitarist for the Poets of Rhythm and the Whitefield Brothers, and founder of the now defunct Hotpie & Candy Records) and Thomas Myland and Zdenko Curlija, founders of The Malcouns.

Alongside Bo Baral, other members of the Poets of Rhythm and crack Munich- based session musicians, Whitefield, Myland and Curlija have crafted nearly twenty tracks that follow the musical roads that Hector has travelled. The underlying groove that ties these ideas together, of course, is as rooted in James Brown as it is Fela Kuti. As informed by Mulatu Astatke of Ethiopia as it is by Jean-Claude Vannier and Can. This is an album of the world. Not “world music” – but that will appeal to any culture ever transfixed by rhythm on “the one.”

Tuesday, 17 June 2008

Jose James drops into the Brownswood Basement for a chat with Tristian the BPM, in the 1st in the series of KPSACE.TV/Brownswwod podcasts - Jose James takes time out on his recent May Tour of Europe - taking the listener through tracks of his recent album 'The Dreamer' (Brownswood Records), new mixes and collaborations.

Friday, 13 June 2008

"Mighty wonky beats here from the promising One Handed Music label, 'Get Familiar' is a stuttering hybrid of Flying Lotus-style hip hop and the kind of ultra-compressed production thump you'd hear from someone like Justice, Feadz and the like, loaded up with stuttering synths and drums that shuffle along so languorously, it sounds like they might actually be dragging. 'Rude Effort' captures that same sort of feel whilst injecting a welcome dose of John Carpenter-style early-eighties synth melodies.

The Paul White remix transforms the piece into something a little straighter and closer to the conventions of hip hop production, albeit with a formidable, overdriven beat driving it forward. Killer" (BOOMKAT RECORDS)

"Brilliant 1st release from an exciting new label called, One Handed (UK). One of London's most promising beats producers, Paul White, steps up with this monster....

Paul White....A normal, everyday name for a man whose talents are anything but.

A successful library music composer with BBC & Channel 4 credits under his belt, he has a cult following among beat-tape enthusiasts and a growing catalogue of remixes (inc. Detroit heroes Frank’N’Dank and a pair for Far Out Recordings). This pair of tracks is the closest you’ll hear to the sound he crafts in the Skylight – the South London hilltop attic he and his vast collection of records and studio gear call home.

However, just because he’s so accomplished doesn’t mean he’s abandoned the raw, dramatic hip-hop sound he loves so much: think of the RZA if he’d turned to ‘70s prog instead of Willie Mitchell; or, or scrap the comparisons and listen closely to two of the moodiest, most intoxicating-yet-simple compositions to come out of this so-called ‘beat-tape’ scene.

His rough demos have attracted praise from the likes of Ashley Beedle (X-Press 2 etc) and Breakin’ Bread to Andrew Meza’s scene-defining BTS Radio show and the Beat Dimensions crew – but here you have a first real taste of what this man can do…" (Rush Hour Records)

Tracklisting

1. Dragon Fly 2. A Silent Cry

FULGEANCE - 7x7 BEAT SERIES NUMBER 3

"Fulgeance – French beat maker Fulgeance steps up to the plate for the third release in the Beat Series. Fresh from his well received EP Chico on Musique Large he takes his queue from the ’84 B movie of the same name and gives us some French fonk. Check the flip and you’ll find like on many a dusty 45 a more reflective mood with “Mamie Thè” (Rush Hour Records)

BOOMKAT RECORDS....."The latest bit of product from the spot-on All City crew outta Glasgow lands with us after the awesome Mike Slott release smudged our world some weeks back. Fulgeance hails from France apparently and it would be true to say he's got a bit of that fonky Oizo type flavour about his beats, but mixed and mashed here with some sick beat science in simialr styles to fellow label mates Heralds of Change or the crew's studio engineer Mike Slott on 'The revenge of the nerds', but flips the styles on the b-side with some nicotine stained keys and burnished blue jazz downbeats. Class stuff, next installment please!"

"7" of retro electro from the rather shy, Creepy Autograph". pressed in detroit, mininum copies...

In trying to acquire more information on Creepy Autograph, I was given the following statement.......

Yes, Creepy Autograph has a story. Creepy Autograph is real people, with real emotions. Ashamed and strange. These emotions run deep. They are stalkers, obsessed with past loves, which have turned sour.

Unsatisfied, I tried to figure out who these real people are or were. In reply I got:Creepy Autograph wishes to remain anonymous, as they are embarrassed of their feelings. But they are so torn by love, that they will continue this project as a result of their sexual frustration". (Rush Hour Record)

Boomkat Records Comments...."Massively intriguing Detroit gear from the mysterious Creepy Autograph for Valentine Connexion records. There's an absolute minimum of information available on these guys and this record so all I can tell you is that it's some of the finest midnight Detroit electro soul we've heard since The Other People Place or the coldest gear since Dopplereffekt tried to stick it in a mannekin. Totally sick and deliciously mysterious, get into it..."

Tracklisting

A1. Erase In MindA2. Night Stalker

B1. The Gray Mans ThemeB2. Make Up & Fashion

IG CULTURE – ZEN BADIZM (FREEDOM SCHOOL) LP

"Mindblowing work from IG Culture -- the summation of all our previous expectations in his music, cast forward into bold new territory! The set's got the depth and majesty of a 70s spiritual jazz session, but still also bristles with the crackling cosmic touches we first loved in IG's work -- a blend of righteous jazz and vocal themes, all infused with a new sort of energy for the 21st Century! Rhythms are sometimes soaring, sometimes skittish, and bits of hip hop and soul nestle in alongside spiritual jazz modes -- with a collective feel that's as powerful as it is positive. IG's got some great help for the record too -- including Chicago talents Dee Alexander on vocals, Ernest Dawkins on reeds, and Corey Wilkes on trumpet -- plus Sacha Williamson on vocals, Josh Deep on vibes, and Tom Ashe on trumpet. Titles include covers of 70s classics "Girl U Need A Change Of Mind" and "Revelation" -- plus "Black", "Consumed", "Any Questions", "Adjusted Perspectives", "B Free", "This Love", and "Ra Bops In Blacknuss". LP includes bonus instrumental tracks "Black" and "Separate"." (Dustygroove Records)

"Finally!! The wait is over! Dam-Funk releases his debut 12" on Stones Throw! With everything played by D-F, and without even the smallest hint of sequencing, he is a breath of fresh air, along with James Pants, for Stones Throw! 'Burgundy City' is the glitchy boogie tinged tune that has been getting caned by Benji B and has had beatheads salivating! 'Galactic Fun' is a more uptempo electric boogie circa '83 killer! Ace!"(Fat City Records)

"Dam Funk has been around since the golden age of electro music, back when Hip Hop and Dance music and Electronic were all the same genre. At least that's what the sales notes say. For us, this is pure galactic boogie funk which appeals to disco heads, funksters, hip hoppers and loads more besides. Stunning...." (Phonica Records)

Tracklisting

A1. Burgundy CityA2. Burgundy City Bonus Beats

B1. Galactic FunB2. Galactic Fun Bonus Beats

ERYKAH BADU - AMERICAN PROMISE 12" (Universal Motown US)

"Erykah Badu's latest album's opening track, "Amerykahn Promise" ably demonstrates in just over four minutes how widely the record ranges. Over a 70s funk vamp, Badu mumbles, a chorus of female voices sings the title hook; and a deep male voice intones, in the manner of a corrections officer speaking over a PA system, 'Excuse me, young lady, excuse me, you're causing quite a disturbance over here.' This authentic 70s style production sounds that way because it actually IS from the 70s, being the backing from a track on a 1977 album produced by Roy Ayers, who personally gave it to Badu to rework, and she sings here over the original master tape. The track vividly recalls the opening of a Funkadelic record, like "Maggot Brain", or the moments when George Clinton would let a variety of characters play out paranoid scenarios, and blend explicit political satire into unhinged, improvisatory funk". (Piccadilly Records)

I've managed to get hold of some tickets to Stevie Wonder this September at the 02 Arena in Greewich London, I can't wait.

Being one of my all time musical heroes, I never thought he would ever tour again and therefore I would never get the chance to see this musical genius on stage. Don't get me wrong, it won't be like seeing him in is hey-day back in the 1970's and there will probably be '2 kinds of Stevie' on show.....the one that does duet's with cheesie pop bands and then the other, who has to be one of the most talented and prolific musicians of his generation.

"Music fans get ready to party as Stevie Wonder tickets are now available for the soul star’s gig at the O2 Arena in September. Anyone who’s into music can’t help but love Stevie Wonder and by picking up your very own Stevie Wonder tickets and heading down to the O2 Arena, you’ll be able to see a living legend live in London.

With Stevie Wonder tickets music fans will be able to see a live performance from one of the music industry’s most enduring talents. Since he burst onto the scene in the early 60s, Stevie Wonder has taken the music world by storm, winning 25 Grammy Awards, being inducted into the Rock and Roll and the Songwriters Halls of Fame and of course selling millions of hit records. It’s not often he plays in London either, so pick up your Stevie Wonder tickets and see just what a star he is.

After signing for Motown Records at the age of twelve it was already clear that Stevie Wonder was a considerable musical talent, with a stunning voice and superb skills on a number of musical instruments. He’s only got better too, and with Stevie Wonder tickets London fans can see Stevie up on stage, showing exactly why he’s regularly heralded as one of the finest live performers in the world.

Stevie Wonder tickets will enable you to see the soul legend live at the impressive O2 Arena, wowing the audience with famous hits such as Superstition, My Cherie Armour, Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours and You Are The Sunshine of My Life. Now one of the best music venues in the world, the O2 Arena is the perfect place to see Stevie Wonder up on stage, live in London".

"Funny one this. And it all came about by accident. Well sort of. I`d been lent this album about five years ago by John Cooper, the legendary underground music dealer. Last year I was discussing the album with him again, and we were both under the impression that this privately pressed album, called Hear O Israel, was no longer owned by anyone. So I put my detective hat and mac on and set about trying to find the owners. And eventually I did, and they are a large organisation called the URJ based in NYC. I went to see them in fact, and suggested that it would be a smashing idea to get this lost and very unique recording back into circulation. They asked me “why?” and I told them that it was one of the most beautiful recordings I have ever heard and needed to be heard again, because bugger all people heard it the first time round. And they said yes. Enthusiastically yes. So, I am thrilled, and shortly will be presenting Hear O Israel to the world again, and it is one of the most beautiful recordings I have ever heard. I can think of nothing quite like it.

Little is really known about it, so here is what we do know. The album was originally commissioned by Rabbi David Davis, recorded and then pressed in 1968, and includes the following musicians:

The recording is a concert in jazz and prayer, and is one of the most sublime, spiritual recordings I have ever had the joy of listening too. Adding to the jazz is the occasional traditional Jewish prayer, sung by a female soprano and contralto, or narrated briefly by the Rabbi.

This most unusual, dare I say, unique recording has never been issued properly. We believe the recording was only available through the URJ, and was never commercially released. It is now licensed to Trunk Records exclusively worldwide.

I can`t show the artwork at the moment simply because it`s not finished, but here are some scans that will reveal a little more". FROM TRUNK RECORDS WEBSITE

SOUNDS OF THE UNIVERSE AGREES....."Wow! Jazz reissue of the year alert! BEAUTIFUL deep modal jazz with religious singing!

This is a truly incredible and almost totally unknown album from 1968 that was released on a tiny independent label run by a New York Jewish organisation in an extremely small run of only a few hundred copies. That it has remained obscure until now is surprising given the outstanding quality of the music and the all-star line up: the group is led by none other than the great Herbie Hancock, alongside a host of other top-flight New York jazz musicians including Grady Tate, Ron Carter, and Thad Jones.

The rediscovery of a long-lost classic-era album featuring all these great players would be reason enough to celebrate, but it's even more exciting than that, because this album combines deep NY modal jazz with Middle-Eastern-sounding Hebrew religious singing and even a narration from a Rabbi on a couple of tracks! - a unique, unusual, and jaw-droppingly beautiful fusion!

The project was conceived and composed by the 17 year old jazz-obsessed son of Massachusetts-based rabbi Joseph Klein, Jonathan Klein, who went on to study music at the prestigious Berklee School of Music. His idea was to use jazz in a religious context as an act of prayer and celebration, and the unique combination of searching, yearning deep late sixties modal jazz with the keening spirituality of the Hebrew singing really works!

Herbie Hancock was at the height of his powers in 1968 and was searching for new directions in which to take his music - he recorded his Fat Albert Rotunda album in the same year, which pointed towards his future jazz fusion directions - and this album represents a pinnacle of 1960s deep jazz experimentation, and definitely ranks as one of our favourite Herbie Hancock albums!

In short, this is an absolutely ESSENTIAL album for any fan of deep jazz!

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